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Chapter 7
Events * The next morning, Helios takes Circe to the island she is to live on. He doesn't speak to her, and leaves as soon as she steps off his chariot. She refuses to cry because she knows that her family will not weep over her. She considers entering the woods, but fears what may be inside and leaves it for the next day. She enters the home, which is too large for her. It was large enough to hold a dozen goddesses, and indeed I kept expecting to find nymphs and cousins around every turn. But no, that was part of my exile. To be utterly alone. What worse punishment could there be, my family thought, than to be deprived of their divine presence? * Circe realizes that the house is as grand as it is as a way to get back at Zeus. Her new home is a monument to her father's pride. * It takes her several tries to start up the fire, as she had seen Glaucos do so often. She gets some food from the pantry and as she sits down to eat at the table, Circe realizes that she has never eaten alone before. * As night falls, Circe's fears get the better of her. Every noise conjures up some new fear. She does not sleep all night. The shadows ebbed away and it was morning. I stood up, whole and untouched. When I went outside, there were no prowling footprints, no slithering tail-marks, no gouges clawed in the door. Yet I did not feel foolish. I felt as if I had passed a great ordeal. I looked again into that forest. Yesterday—was it only yesterday?—I had waited for someone to come and tell me it was safe. But who would that be? My father, Aeëtes? That is what exile meant: no one was coming, no one ever would. There was fear in that knowledge, but after my long night of terrors it felt small and inconsequential. The worst of my cowardice had been sweated out. In its place was a giddy spark. I will not be like a bird bred in a cage, I thought, too dull to fly even when the door stands open. I stepped into those woods and my life began. * Circe memorizes her island. She learns to enjoy her dark house, for it means that her father isn't watching anymore and her hours are her own. * One day, Circe gathers hellebore and brings it home. * I had a little pride, as I have said, and that was good. More would have been fatal. * Circe practices Pharmakeia. I pressed on. If my childhood had given me anything, it was endurance. Little by little I began to listen better: to the sap moving in the plants, to the blood in my veins. I learned to understand my own intention, to prune and to add, to feel where the power gathered and speak the right words to draw it to its height. That was the moment I lived for, when it all came clear at last and the spell could sing with its pure note, for me and me alone. * The first thing that Circe does is transform an acorn into a strawberry. * I brought a withered flower back to life. I banished flies from my house. I made the cherries blossom out of season and turned the fire vivid green. If Aeëtes had been there, he would have choked on his beard to see such kitchen-tricks. Yet because I knew nothing, nothing was beneath me. * She learns that she has a knack for illusion, but her greatest gift still lies in transformation. No matter how potent the mixture or well-woven the spell, however, the transformation touches only bodies, not minds. * Some time later, she encounters her first boar. He was huge, even bigger than I had imagined a boar could be. His spine rose steep and black as the ridges of Mount Cynthos, and his shoulders were slashed with the thunderbolt scars of his fights. Only the bravest heroes face such creatures, and then they are armed with spears and dogs, archers and assistants, and usually half a dozen warriors besides. I had only my digging knife and my basket, and not a single spell-draught to hand. He stamped, and the white foam dripped from his mouth. He lowered his tusks and ground his jaws. His pig-eyes said: I can break a hundred youths and send their bodies back to wailing mothers. I will tear your entrails and eat them for my lunch. I fixed my gaze on his. “Try,” I said. For a long moment he stared at me. Then he turned and twitched off through the brush. I tell you, for all my spells, that was the first time I truly felt myself a witch.” * Circe thinks of all of the goddesses who keep animals on their shoulders and decides to put them to shame. She does a spell and sings I summon you. The next evening, a wild lioness comes to her. She now understands her brother's boldness, for she feels powerful. I tracked my father’s burning chariot across the sky. Well? What do you have to say to me? You threw me to the crows, but it turns out I prefer them to you. No answer came, and none from my aunt Moon either, those cowards. My skin was glowing, my teeth set. My lioness lashed her tail. Does no one have the courage? Will no one dare to face me? Characters * Helios * Circe * Circe's lioness Mentioned Characters * Zeus * Scylla * Selene Category:Chapters Category:Chapter 7